Installing FieldTrip and preparing for the hands-on sessions

For the hands-on sessions you have to start MATLAB. To ensure that
everything runs smooth, we will work with a clean and well-tested
version of fieldtrip that is distributed on a USB stick, rather than the older version you might already have installed. Furthermore, the tutorial data will also be distributed on the USB stick.

Depending on the unzip program you are using (e.g. Winrar), the name
of the zip file might also appear as directiory, resulting in
path_to_directory/fieldtrip-xxxxxxxx/fieldtrip-xxxxxxxx, i.e. the
fieldtrip directory in a fieldtrip directory. Please fix that by
moving all files one level up.

After copying all files to your computer and unzipping then, you start MATLAB. To ensure that the right version of fieldtrip is used, and not another version (such as the one included in SPM or EEGLAB), you type in the MATLAB command window

Please do NOT use the graphical path management tool from MATLAB. In this hands-on session we'll manage the path from the command line, but in general you are much better off using a startup.m file than the path GUI.

Please do NOT add fieldtrip with all subdirectories, subdirectories will be added automatically when needed, but only when needed.

The restoredefaultpath command clears your path, keeping only the
official MATLAB toolboxes. The addpath(pwd) statement adds the
present working directory, i.e. the directory containing the fieldtrip
main funcctions. The ft_defaults command ensures that all required
subdirectories are added to the path.

If you get the error “can't find the command ft_defaults” you should check the present working directory.

After installing fieldtrip to your path, you change into the data directory